A fellow attorney contacted me recently with a common question. The inquiry was as follows:

After I requested that a Red Notice against my client be removed, I received no answer, but it disappeared from INTERPOL's website. Can I assume that it has been removed?

As with any question about assumptions, the answer is that one shouldn't assume, but should verify.

First, it should be noted that any request regarding the validity of a Red Notice should be met with a response regarding admissibility in thirty days. In my experience, such responses have always been forthcoming within that timeframe.

Second, while it is possible that the Notice has been removed from INTERPOL's databases, it is also possible that it has not. The Notice may have become the subject of an inquiry regarding its validity.

Additionally, it is possible that the country that requested the Notice in the first place later requested that it not be published on the website any longer. Recall that the decision to publish a Red Notice is made by the requesting country, and the requesting country is the owner of the information supplied to INTERPOL. Moreover, the vast majority of Red Notices are unpublished.

Instead of assuming, a better approach would be to directly inquire with the CCF (the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files), INTERPOL's processor of personal information, regarding the status of the matter.